Getting to the Root of It

Fresh coriander? yep!
You guys are lucky I got a pic of this one before it disappeared down my hubby’s gullet!

The inspiration for this delicious, vegetable root potato salad came from all the beautiful stuff popping up in our garden right now. As with everything, it’s best with fresh ingredients, but I’m sure this one would be great with store bought too!

Salade a trois
(carrots, beets and fresh coriander)

I pulled about 5-6 carrots and 3 beets right out of our garden and cut them into big bite size pieces. I also grabbed 3-4 decent size red potatoes and cut them the same. I put all three in together and boiled them until just tender.

While they were cooking I went back out to the garden and grabbed a handful of mint leaves, a few sprigs of lemon balm, a couple stems of variegated lemon thyme, a fistful of chives and a few stalks of my cilantro, which has gone to seed.

Gone to seed?!?!… click post-jump.

**You may or may not know that the seeds of the cilantro plant are also known as coriander. They have a markedly different flavor than cilantro leaves, but can be just as delicious. Coriander is much more spicy but still has delightful lemony notes. Coriander seeds (or fruits, as they are also called) are usually used dried, but I snatched some off my cilantro plants and popped them in my mouth and they were delicious, so I thought -why not!

Pull off all your coriander fruits and drop them in the bottom of a large mixing bowl and mash them a bit with the back of a spoon. Add about 1/4-1/3 c of (fresh) lemon juice, a good dash of your favorite vinegar (I used my garlic, basil white wine), and about 1/4 c of EVOO. Toss in all your cooked root veggies while still warm, they will soak up more flavor that way. Rough chop the rest of your herbs, including any cilantro that was on your seeded stalk and throw that on top. Fold it all together and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill and enjoy!

~~You can really use any ratio of your root veggies for this salad, and more or less any fresh herbs you want, but I think what really gives it a distinctive and yummy fresh flavor are the fresh coriander berries, the fresh mint and the lemon juice. I also think bacon crumbles might be a great addition to this salade.~~